Jeffrey D. Dunn Named Chief of Sesame Workshop

By Elizabeth Jensen

Sept. 8, 2014

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization best known as the producer of PBS’s “Sesame Street,” has named a former Nickelodeon and HIT Entertainment executive, Jeffrey D. Dunn, as its president and chief executive.

Mr. Dunn, whose appointment is effective Sept. 29, replaces H. Melvin Ming, who is retiring. He will be the first outsider to lead Sesame Workshop, which was founded by Joan Ganz Cooney in 1968 as the Children’s Television Workshop.

Like other media organizations, Sesame Workshop has focused in recent years on staying on top of rapid changes in media habits, including increased mobile and online viewing. Last week, PBS began broadcasting a half-hour version of “Sesame Street” during its afternoon lineup, in addition to the hourlong morning version.

Mr. Dunn has had close ties to the organization in his past jobs. Sesame Workshop and HIT, the company behind “Thomas & Friends,” where he served as president and chief executive, were among the original partners in the preschool cable channel Sprout. At Nickelodeon, where he was group chief operating officer of the Nickelodeon Networks and president of Nickelodeon Film and Enterprises, Mr. Dunn created the Noggin joint venture with Sesame Workshop, which ended in 2002.

While at Nickelodeon, Mr. Dunn significantly expanded the company’s international business, as well as its feature film, publishing, live theatrical, hotel, restaurant and theme park ventures.

Most recently, Mr. Dunn was a 2014 Advanced Leadership Initiative fellow at Harvard, after leaving HIT in 2012, when it was sold to Mattel.

A Sesame Workshop spokeswoman said no one from the organization was available to comment on Mr. Dunn’s selection, and Mr. Dunn was not giving interviews.

Vincent A. Mai, Sesame Workshop’s board chairman, cited Mr. Dunn’s “outstanding track record in the world of children’s media,” in a news release on Monday, noting that during his tenure Nickelodeon “became one of the industry’s most global networks” and “largest licensing businesses,” as well as the “world’s largest digital media business for kids.”

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